Self Defense in the Schools: Why Do Kids Feel They Need Weapons?

A 17 year old student at Bayside High School in Palm Bay, Florida, was arrested for bringing a razor blade to school on October 8, 2009 as a "weapon of self defense." He was charged with possession of a weapon on school property.

The teen, unnamed in the newspaper because of his age, faces discipline from the school district as well. Brevard County School District most often suspends students who carry weapons to school but also have the right to expel such students.

After being arrested by Palm Bay police, the teen was turned over to juvenile authorities.

Incidents such as this one bring up the troubling subject of safety at school. It is easy to label a student who brings weapons to school as the aggressor but in this day and age a student fearing for his or her life is not outside of the realm of possibilities. When kids bring semi-automatic rifles to school a razor blade doesn’t seem as extreme.

Each case of weapons possession should be taken very seriously, however. If the unnamed student knew that no weapons would make it through the school’s security system then perhaps he wouldn’t have felt the need to try to bring his own weapon to school.

Perhaps students would benefit, too, from lessons in self defense (the kind that doesn’t require razor blades). If the unnamed student felt confident in his non-lethal options to defend himself, he might not have ended up in police custody. This is not to say that students should be well versed in hand to hand combat. Awareness and conflict resolution would go a long way towards helping students feel comfortable with their ability to avoid armed conflict.